T Grain Develop time vs Tri X

herb · Jan 15, 2007

I use pyrocat HD for my only film developer. I mix my own.

:rolleyes: Being in a rush the other day,

I developed two rolls of 120 in the same tank, one being TriX 320 and the other being TMY 400. The tri X came out just fine, the TMY was vastly under developed.

Time 13 min at 65F presoak 5 min, agitation 10 sec every minute. 2:2:100
dilution.

This leads me to think of Gordon Hutchin's remark that kodak was just saving silver by going to T grain films, ie. the T grain takes more to bring out the image?

Am I missing something here?

Roger Hicks · Jan 15, 2007

herb said:
Am I missing something here?

Probably. Less silver for a given ISO speed and covering power implies a greater surface area of silver, which would imply MORE rapid development (unless of course the emulsion were hardened more, or the other film had development accelerators incorporated, or any number of other factors except the silver content).

Cheers,

R.

avandesande · Jan 15, 2007

We hear that one many times at apug and I think it is BS. It's not like Kodak switched trix to a tgrain and didn't tell anyone.
T-grain films are different from other films... this is neither good nor bad, just another option. Kodak was always up front about the new technology and I fail to see the 'less silver conspiracy'

herb said:
I
This leads me to think of Gordon Hutchin's remark that kodak was just saving silver by going to T grain films, ie. the T grain takes more to bring out the image?

Michael W · Jan 15, 2007

I also discovered recently that TriX 400 & Tmax 400 require different dev times.
Slightly different scenario to the original poster as this was 35mm in Xtol.

I've been doing a lot of TriX in Xtol 1:2 at 10.5 mins.
I was pleased to see that the Massive Dev Chart gave the same time for Tmax 400 so I dev'd a couple of rolls of each in the same tank.
Checked on a densitometer the TriX was spot on but the Tmax was one stop underdeveloped.
First time I've been led astray by the Massive Dev Chart. At least I now know how to do a one stop pull with TMY.

I don't think it's anything to do with less silver. TMY is excellent film, just needs more time than TriX.

Thomas Bertilsson · Jan 15, 2007

Xtol stock
TMY EI400 box speed - 6.5m
Tri-X EI400 box speed - 7m
TMX EI100 box speed - 6-3/4m
Plus-X EI125 box speed - 5.25m
Delta 100 EI100 box speed - 8m
FP4 EI125 box speed - 8m

Times listed at Digitaltruth starting times of course, but it seems to largely depend upon the film that is used and how you use and expose it. More silver or less, who cares? As long as it looks good and you like the results....

Go figure...

- Thom

George Collier · Jan 16, 2007

My experience with Tri-x and TMax 400 is almost the same developement time with HC110, 1:45 (a dilution I kind of worked up over the years). Mostly this is 4x5 in trays continuous agitation. This is also mostly the older Tri-x. Since the new version, I have been experimenting with other developers and stand or semi-stand.
Maybe the difference or similarity in development times depends on the developer?

sanking · Jan 16, 2007

herb said:
I use pyrocat HD for my only film developer. I mix my own.

:rolleyes: Being in a rush the other day,

I developed two rolls of 120 in the same tank, one being TriX 320 and the other being TMY 400. The tri X came out just fine, the TMY was vastly under developed.

Time 13 min at 65F presoak 5 min, agitation 10 sec every minute. 2:2:100
dilution.

This leads me to think of Gordon Hutchin's remark that kodak was just saving silver by going to T grain films, ie. the T grain takes more to bring out the image?

Am I missing something here?

Curious, my experience is entirely different. In my darkroom development times with Pyrocat-HD are shorter for TMY than TXT for the same contrast. And I have used and tested a lot of different films, including both roll and sheet.

Sandy King

herb · Jan 17, 2007

T grain vs TXT development

Ok, it looks like I will have to get scientific.

More tests this weekend.

MVNelson · Jan 17, 2007

my experience appears to be similar to Kings. In fact with the dev time and conc you quoted If the SBR was anywhere near 7 my 120 TMY probably would have been pretty well over developed

T Grain Develop time vs Tri X

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